Prime Minister's Office
English rendering of PM’s address at a public meeting in Varanasi on 12 March, 2018
Mothers, sisters, brothers and my young friends who are present here in large numbers,
I am lucky to have got the opportunity to lay foundation stones of several developmental projects in Benaras. First of all, I want to thank the people of Benaras and congratulate them. Today, Benares has done an amazing job! The people of France will surelyenquire about Benaras where the French President was welcomed by the people in a grandiose manner.
Had we not moved faster, our car would have stuck in the middle of the road and we would still be receiving greeting from the people on road; such was the crowd! It was wonderful to get the view of the Ganga Ghat and land of Benaras. The love and blessings of the people of Benaras have strengthened the Indo- French friendship. I just can’t thank the people of Benaras enough for this.
I also had the good fortune to bow down to mother Vindhyavasini today. India is playing a vital role in running a solar energy campaign all over the world. France and India together are doing a great job in the field of solar power. Guests from many countries had come to Delhi yesterday and they took several important decisions in the direction of the development of solar power. I also got an opportunity to inaugurate a solar power plant in Mirzapur. This is a campaign to bring about a major change in India and I want to spread it further so that the solar panels are installed on the rooftop of every household and there is no need for a cooking stove in the house; the food could be easily cooked without any financial cost or environmental cost. It will prove to be a big campaign for clean cooking.
There are 25 crore families in India. Thus, there is a huge market and I urge my young friends, the IITians to compete for innovation and develop such technologies that will help our mothers and sisters to cook food. They should be able to cook food comfortably with the blessings of the Sun God without any expenditur on fuel. It will be a great service to the poor and middle class families.
Moreover, today I have had the opportunity to connect Kashi and Patna by starting a new railway service. There was a long standing demand for a fast moving train connecting Kashi and Patna. The train will run from Kashi at 6 in the morning and will reach Patna by 10 or 10.15 am. In the evening, it will start at five o'clock and will return to Kashi by 9 or 9.30 or 10 at night. I got this opportunity to inaugurate the fast-moving train, the Kashi-Patna Janshatabdi Express, connecting Kashi and Patna in the shortest possible time. I congratulate the Railway Minister. A lot of work is underway for the welfare of the public under the leadership of Mr. Manoj Sinha.
Kashi has now become my second home. While spiritually the identity of Kashi is associated with HarHarMahadev,indusatriallyKashi's identity is linked with DLW. So, the Government of India is taking steps in the direction of providing facilities to DLW because its development, expansion and modernization will provide better employment opportunities to more and more people.
The festival of Holi has just been celebrated.The developmental work of about 800 crore rupees adds a new color, a new fragrance and a new hope to the festival of Holi. Today I have had an opportunity to handover the keys of the houses to poor families here. I asked them - where did you live before? Some lived in a kutchha house, some used to stay in the slums and some used only a bedding which was shifted from one place to another at regular intervals; such was their lives. I asked them several questions such as if they were feeling good after getting the house, if something was amiss and so on. And later I asked them if they will educate their children. All of them looked away on hearing this question. I urged them that now that they have a good home, it was their responsibility to educate their children.
I am glad that Yogi ji has implemented the housing scheme in a mission mode. This is not a new scheme of the Government of India. It was there even during the period of the old government. At that time I had said in Kashi that they could not decide even a name, but Yogiji had made a list of the beneficiaries and presented that to the Indian government. Then, the Indian government allocated funds and within five months more than five thousand houses were built and handed-over to the people. It is our dream to have houses for eight lakh families in the coming days and I believe that under the leadership of Yogiji it will be possible and this will be done in a time-bound manner.
In today’s world without infrastructure developmentis impossible. Connectivity is of great importance. Trains and roads are important. A four lane road is being constructed to connectShivpuri and Phulwaria, . Two railway crossings and two new overbridges will be built on this. We are working on modernization of railway stations in Benaras.
Today I got the opportunity to attend the waste Festival. People would be surprised that now even the waste festivals are being celebrated. Those who do not like Modi will criticize Modi for organising garbage festival. We have to carry our Swachhta mission forward. Wealth can be created out of Waste. Useful things can be made out of the junk and it can become a mass movement. I would like to urge the people who have come here to definitely attend the exhibition in the garbage festival where children have created several useful items from the bottles and the newspapers that are thrown away. People may get attracted to see it if it is displayed inside the house. The same thing can be used for a variety of purposes.
I listened to a musical party here. It was a great musical party, singing songs of hygiene and using musical instruments made up of empty containers. They were producing beautiful music by playing the empty containers. Today I have seen that the most useless things can also be put to the best use in this garbage festival.
Varanasi has to give priority to cleanliness. The tourists around the world have to be attracted to Varanasi. Varanasi has everything. It has existed for centuries. Today we need to do just one thing. We have to keep Varanasi clean.
The entire world will be inspired to come to Varanasi. The operation of sewer water treatment plant has also been started. This sewage treatment plant will be in place at a cost of around Rs 600 crore. One can easily guess the huge benefit the people will draw out of it in the coming days.
You must have seen hanging wires in Kashi. I have started a campaign to get Kashi rid of those bunch of wires. We have started the work of laying underground wires across the country from Benaras. Even in Benaras, the work is going on at a rapid pace.
Similarly, when Yogiji had organized the 'Investment Summit', I had announced about a defense manufacturing corridor at that time, and the defense manufacturing corridor has the pote3ntial for generating employment for nearly two and a half lakh people. Yogiji's government and the Indian government are moving forward at a fast pace in the direction of extending that work.
I want to congratulate Yogi ji for taking special care of the farmers. Earlier, MSP used to be declared but paddy was not procured in Uttar Pradesh. I am glad that the purchase of paddy has increased fourfold due to Yogiji's efforts. Farmers have had the opportunity to get the right price for their produce.
Moreover, the speed and the quantum of payment of sugarcane farmers has also increased by 40 per cent. So you can imagine how these schemes of development will help increase the infrastructure of Kashi.Today, I have had the opportunity to inaugurate many such projects in the field of agriculture, electricity and railways.
We all have to take Kashi to new heights of development. The State Government and Government of India are working on a number of projects in Kashi and Eastern Uttar Pradesh. In the coming days, we are going to introduce a very important scheme for the citizens. An insurance scheme is being arranged for the poor familiesunder 'Ayushman Bharat'.Whenever a person in the family falls sick, his entire family suffers. Often the poor person avoids getting treatment as that exhausts the entire savings of the family. All the dreams of the family and all the plans are shattered. It is not possible for him to spend as he will not have anything for mortgaging. Shall the citizens of my country suffer like this?
Brothers and sisters, I do not approve of this. So we have framed a plan for 10 crore poor families or nearly 50 crore individuals who cannot afford the cost of treatment.Under the 'Ayushman Bharat' scheme, the government and the insurance company together will cover the cost of hospitalization up to Rs five lakh in one year for treatment of any illness in such families. Consequently, the poor who used to avoid going to the hospital before, would now go for treating even for a small disease. Because he knows that the expenses of his treatment will be borne by the Modi Government.
Private parties avoided setting up of hospitals in small towns believing that people would not come or not pay even if they come. But now private hospitals will be set up in rural areas. People who provide services in terms of healthcare will be ready. New jobs will be created in the field of healthcare and we will be able to make the country healthy.
Malnutrition is a major problem in our country. We have started the nutrition mission. We are investing around Rs 9, 000 crores to ensure that our children have their weights and heights according to their age in the coming years. What arrangements should be made to ensure that our children are healthy and free from malnutrition? What type of arrangements should be there for training? How to provide training to mothers in particular?
All these aspects have been covered under the Prime Minister Poshan Mission scheme i.e. PMPM. In the coming days, this scheme of Poshan Mission should be for poorest of the poor families, the middle class families as well as for daughters in the age-group of 12-14-16 years. If the 12-14-16 years old daughters are not healthy and fit then their physical development will not be according to their age. If she becomes a mother few years later, then either the mother or the child can die. Also, the child could be born with some illness and that mother's life will be spent in serving the child. We are moving towards implementing the Pradhan ManstriPoshan Mission to emancipate the people from these problems.
My brothers and sisters of Kashi,
I hope that Kashi gets all the benefits of development. All the plans related to the Ganga are moving at a fast pace and its benefits are also going to be realized in the future.
I once again congratulate the Yogiji's government for expediting several projects. I extend my heartfelt congratulations also for expediting the plans of the Government of India. I salute the people of Kashi once again for the wonderful welcome.
Thanks a lot!